


spiderman: origins

by tempestaurora



Series: hydra's not a home [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Identity Reveal, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, There's literally nothing to tag this time, best of friends best of friends, i dont think Peter even says Fuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-13 23:28:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16028225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tempestaurora/pseuds/tempestaurora
Summary: Peter has officially decided that he wants to use his abilities for good. He wants to be like Tony, like the Avengers, like the New York vigilantes that keep people safe.He can't do that without Ned by his side.





	spiderman: origins

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FanaticFangirl2602](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanaticFangirl2602/gifts).



> i couldn't resist with the title  
> y'all have been waiting a few weeks to see peter finally become spiderman and i promise theres more spiderman content coming up - sorry about the lack of ironmom/irondad content this time around, the next one is full blown domestic life
> 
> i know i've dedicated a fic to the lovely belle before, but she recently drew [some super cute peter art](https://fanaticfangirl2602.tumblr.com/post/178146556752/i-was-told-by-tempestaurora-to-post-this-bust-i) for the hydra's not a home universe (including emo fringe, which i was joking about but love anyway), so i'm giving her another. ur the best, buddy.

It started with Peter stealing his upgraded webshooters from Tony’s lab. In hindsight, it wasn’t a good omen that his first act towards being a hero and helping people started with robbing a superhero of expensive and dangerous technology. But Peter had helped build it, because he knew how to, and he felt like he needed them if this was going to work out.

So he stole his webshooters by fiddling with a bit of FRIDAY’s code so she’d have a twenty second black out in the lab – enough time for him to move from his desk in the corner, to Tony’s on the other side of the room, where the webshooters sat in a draw, slip them into his backpack and move back to his seat.

FRIDAY ran her diagnostics on her code, found only a single line out of place that she had no recollection of being added and fixed the problem. No one knew a thing.

The Wednesday after school started again, Peter went to Ned’s after school. He ignored the two SHIELD agents drinking coffee in the window of the café across the road and raced up the steps behind Ned and into his house.

Once they were situated in his room, Ned grinned. “You know, we could totally be the cool kids if you actually talked to anyone.”

Peter scoffed. Ned was sat on the desk chair and Peter on the floor, rummaging through his backpack. “If they wanted to be my friends, they would’ve spoken to me _before_ the field trip.”

“Maybe they’re shy.”

“Maybe they wanna be friends with the kid who plays with throwing knives for fun.”

Ned’s eyes widened comically. “You play with throwing knives for _fun?_ ”

“Irrelevant, check this out.” Producing the webshooters from his bag, Ned stared as Peter clipped them around his wrists. They were thinner and more lightweight than his last set; more inconspicuous but able to hold just as much web fluid.

“Whoa,” Ned breathed. A moment later, Peter flexed his wrist for the trigger to activate and a web shot out, attaching itself to ceiling. “No way. Did you make those?”

“Yeah, me and T-” Peter fumbled over his words, “My dad,” he corrected. The more comfortable he became with Pepper, Tony and the life they led in their three-storey Manhattan house, the easier it became to trip over his words and almost let out his secret. He was, once, a secret agent – so it was amusing to him (but no one he worked with) that he found it so easy to let confidential information slip.

“That’s so cool,” Ned said. “My dad’s an accountant. He can work an Excel document but he’d never be able to help me with coding.” Peter watched his friend eye the long strand of webbing that hung from the ceiling. “Why webs? Why not something electric – or knives, or guns or something?”

Peter shrugged. “I have a spider shtick to fulfil.”

“You want your thing to be _spiders_?” Ned asked. “I had to deal with the one in Maths that was crawling all over our desk because you freaked out at the sight of it!”

Peter shuddered at the memory. “Spiders are creepy,” he reasoned. “But I already have the webshooters, and…” he trailed off, before climbing up to his feet. Peter checked out the window, briefly, spotting the SHIELD agents chatting over their coffees. His spider-sense wasn’t alerting him to any danger, but he didn’t know if it _could_ alert him to recording devices. Still, Peter figured if they could hear him, someone would’ve already come to pick him up over the missing webshooters.

Peter switched on the music on Ned’s laptop anyway.

(Ned had given him no reason not to trust him.)

(Ned’s background check was squeaky clean.)

(Ned couldn’t even make Peter’s spider-sense go off, because Peter’s natural inclination was to trust him.)

“Watch this,” Peter whispered.

He moved so no one could see him through the window from the street and took one glance back at Ned’s confused expression before climbing up the wall and onto the ceiling. When he tilted his head back to look at Ned, he caught the wide eyes, dropped jaw and hushed _no way_ before he grinned.

“This is so cool! You’re like a superhero! Oh my god! You could be a superhero! You can fight and you can climb walls and- what else can you do? Can you fly? Can you turn invisible? This is why you were so calm when we were attacked on the field trip! You didn’t even hesitate to kick baddie butt because you’re a superhero! This is so awesome!”

Peter flipped down from the ceiling, Ned now on his feet and practically vibrating with excitement. Peter felt very justified in turning on the music.

“What else can you do, dude?”

Peter listed them on his fingers. “I have this crazy cool advanced metabolism, so I heal really quick-”

“Oh my god, this is why you eat so much at lunch. I’ve been watching you eat like six sandwiches at lunch for three months, wondering how the hell you stay so skinny. Dude, you almost gave me a complex.”

Peter laughed and Ned grinned. “I’ve also got enhanced senses-”

“Can you hear really well?” Peter nodded and Ned turned around, leading him to the window. “What are those guys saying down there?”

Ned pointed to the SHIELD agents at the café and Peter rolled his eyes.

“Why them?”

“Because they sit out there every time you come over. Same seats, same guys, never on days you aren’t here.”

(Ned, decidedly, was a lot more observant than anyone gave him credit for.)

“That’s because they’re SHIELD agents,” Peter replied, quiet.

“No way,” Ned breathed.

“They’re assigned to watch me whenever I come here.”

“How come?”

Peter shrugged. He didn’t want to tell Ned all the gory details of his past. He settled on, “I’m on a kind of watchlist because of my powers. They just stick around to make sure I don’t die or anything.”

“Like the field trip?”

“Yeah,” Peter said. “I wasn’t allowed on the trip unless the place was packed with people who could help if I got attacked.”

Ned’s eyes were like saucers as they crouched by the window, only the tops of their heads poking out to watch the street. “Was the attack because of you?” he asked. “Were people trying to get you?”

“I don’t think so,” Peter replied. “I think it was just bad timing. They were after the weapons stored in the exhibition. Anyway, there are agents everywhere if you just learn to look for them.”

“Like the four new teachers at school?” Ned asked. “They’re all super fit and intelligent – too smart to be teaching at Midtown, you know? What?” Ned frowned at Peter’s expression, which was a mix of amazement and shock.

“I can’t believe you identified six covert SHIELD operatives without breaking a sweat,” Peter said. Ned clearly didn’t know what to say to that other than grin, so Peter looked back out the window. “The one on the left is asking how long they have to sit out there. The one on the right said _until the kid goes home, you know the drill._ The guy on the left is now complaining about the coffee – they wish you lived opposite a better café.”

“Hey,” Ned complained. “Rosie’s is a solid café. You know they always open up five minutes early so I can get a drink before catching the train to school?”

The two boys pulled back from the window sill, slumping down against the wall.

“I need your help,” Peter said, his voice quiet and smothered by the music. “I want to do the whole vigilante thing.”

“Like Daredevil?” Ned gushed. Peter nodded. “Oh my god – can I be your guy in the chair?”

“My what?”

“Guy in the chair,” Ned repeated. “You know, like in movies – there’s always a guy in a chair with a bunch of monitors around him? He’ll turn between all the screens, being like _there’s a robbery on 4th,_ or _you gotta get outta there!_ ” Ned made voices to imitate the guys from the movies and Peter laughed.

“Totally,” Peter agreed. “That’s why I came to you – I need your help with this. I need a guy in the chair.”

“At last,” Ned breathed. “My time has come.”

 

-

 

They made a list. Peter didn’t tell Ned about HYDRA or the Black Spider – he didn’t tell his friend about his previous suit. Peter knew that he couldn’t just yet, so they went with things they could do.

 

**_THINGS WE NEED TO MAKE PETER INTO A VIGILANTE_ **

 

  1. _a mask_



 

“Do you _really_ need a mask?” Ned asked.

“I’m not having _Peter Parker is the Spider of Queens_ on the news, Ned,” Peter replied. “No one can know about this.”

“Not even the people at school? I mean, we could tell everyone and we’d be the coolest guys there!”

“Don’t make me get an NDA out,” Peter warned. “I’ll write one. I’ll make you sign it.”

 

  1. _an ear piece_



 

“I can’t be your guy in the chair if I can’t talk to you while you’re out superhero-ing.”

  1. _Peter’s weird goggles_



 

“They’re not weird,” Peter complained. “It’ll just be easier if I could limit the input on my senses.”

“Alright, but they sound weird. I don’t want you to be the _weird superhero of Queens_.”

 

  1. _a way to ditch the babysitters_



 

The last item on the list was the most difficult. His babysitters – AKA the SHIELD agents (and, secretly, the Avengers who watched him like a hawk) – weren’t going to take kindly to Peter running off and disappearing into the night. The watch on his wrist was a tracker, too, Tony had told him as much when he was first given it.

“So we need to disable the tracker,” Ned decided, “or at least send out a signal from a different location, and ditch the guys outside. It’s a good thing you want to help Queens, considering you go to school here.”

That was helpful. If Peter played his cards right, he could go out as the Spider (not the Black Spider, never again the Black Spider) on his way home from school.

They set to work.

 

-

 

It took two weeks to gather the materials and make the suit. It wasn’t as advanced as the Black Spider suit – instead of a formfitting spandex-esque suit in an intimidating black, Peter had an outfit of blue and red, a hoodie and joggers and a mask that hid his identity. They sewed the darkened goggles into the mask, connected a Bluetooth earpiece to Ned’s laptop and fit on the webshooters.

Peter was nervous to say the least.

Tony hadn’t noticed that the webshooters were missing – or, if he had, he hadn’t mentioned it – but he’d certainly notice if someone was swinging around Queens with _his technology_ and a _similar sounding name to his son’s ex-alias._ Peter figured he’d just have to stick close to the ground; start with small stuff and work his way up. If he remained mostly hidden, stayed out of sight, he’d be able to at least get some good practice in before having to persuade his parents to let him continue. (Persuading SHIELD would be another matter altogether.)

Last, but not least, Ned had been working on a hack of the watch. Peter had told him that it’d been issued by SHIELD to keep an eye on him, so Ned was extra careful as he ran through the coding and isolated the tracking code.

As Ned rerouted the code to keep its location consistent with Ned’s house, rather than following Peter where he went next, Peter remembered Tony locking the watch onto his wrist, the first day he moved in with the Starks.

_“Internal tracker,” Tony had told him. “Monitors heart rate, vitals – it lets me keep an eye on you.”_

_“Ah,” Peter had said, waving the watch around a little. “I almost forgot I was a prisoner.”_

_“Prisoner’s a harsh word.”_

_“Captive,” Peter supplied. Tony had made a face that made him want to laugh. “Inmate. Hostage. Detainee-”_

_“Detainee sounds better than_ hostage _.”_

_Peter had smiled. “I prefer jailbird, if I say so myself.”_

They’d settled on jailspider and Peter had felt something close to comfort within the walls of Tony’s lab. They’d gotten better at telling each other the truth, in the months since then – Peter hadn’t had many secrets since moving in, especially not any that he felt the need to keep.

“There,” Ned said. “That should do it. I can watch the live feed of your tracker here, so I’ll tell you if it didn’t work.”

“And you can track the earpiece, too?”

“Yeah, so I’ll know where you really are.”

Peter felt strangely confident that it was working. He was dressed in his Spider outfit, excited no matter how crude it was. He was just going to go out and help someone. Anyone. One person. He would be something other than what HYDRA made him.

The thought made him swallow and he nodded to Ned, pulling the mask over his face.

“Alright, wish me luck.”

“Kick ass, Spiderman.”

Peter hesitated. “What?”

Ned shrugged. “Spiderman sounds way cooler than just Spider,” he said, “especially if you’re sticking with the whole arachnid thing.”

Peter paused then nodded. “Spiderman,” he agreed.

He turned, then, and moved through the corridor to the back of the house. Peter climbed out of the window, sticking to the wall, and made his way down the street by running across the rooftops.

“The tracker still says you’re at mine,” Ned gloated a moment later. “We’re doing great at this whole vigilante thing.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Peter replied. “Right now, I’m just a guy in a mask. I’m also trespassing, like, a lot.”

 

-

 

Peter swung around Queens, because he missed the feeling of it.

The new webshooters were quicker and smoother than his old ones, and for a little while, he just enjoyed the feeling of it. He hadn’t had fun like this in a long time.

Eventually, he heard the crying of a baby, and changed his course, swinging around a building and landing in an alleyway. Nearby, standing by the edge of the sidewalk next to the road, was a toddler, maybe two or three years old. They were alone, crying, and no one seemed to be paying them any attention.

No one cared about the bright red guy in a mask crouching down next to the kid, either.

“Hey, kiddo,” Peter said. “Where’s your parents?”

The baby cried more.

“Are you talking to a screaming toddler?” Ned asked in his ear.

“Come on, now,” Peter continued, ignoring his friend. “Don’t cry. I’m gonna help you – how about we move away from the road, first.” When Peter held out a hand, the child hesitated before holding onto it, and Peter moved them to the other side of the sidewalk, next to a building. “Where’s your parents?”

“I- I- I don’t know,” the baby said between sobs. He looked a little cold, despite the puffy jacket and hat, so Peter lifted him into his arms and went in search, asking questions about the kid as he went. The child was named Alex, his favourite colour was green, his favourite animal was a zebra. He lost his mom and couldn’t find her anywhere.

Peter didn’t like thinking about the similarities between him and this kid – he didn’t like thinking about how being separated from his parents turned out for him.

“Come on, Alex,” Peter said. “Do you know where you live? Or, where you were going?”

“Hey, Peter,” Ned said in his ear. “Maybe he has, like, an emergency number on him. Some parents do that, you know.”

“Like what?” Peter asked.

“Check his pockets or maybe he has a bracelet or something with a contact number on it.”

Alex didn’t have anything in his pockets other than a small Iron Man figure that Peter couldn’t help but smile at. He didn’t have a bracelet, but Peter did notice, quickly, the marks of pen across the back of the coat. He set Alex down and pulled back the collar of the coat.

“Ned, you’re a genius,” Peter said. He relayed the number, as he didn’t have his phone, and listened to the ringing through the ear piece.

 _“H-hello?”_ The voice sounded distracted.

“Hello, I’m Spiderman’s guy in the chair. Are you missing a child?”

_“What? Yes! Yes! Have you seen him? Have you seen Alex?”_

“My partner Spiderman is on Kissena Boulevard – near the Micro Centre? He’s got Alex there.”

_“Oh my god! Thank you! Thank you! Tell your- your friend I’ll be there. Five minutes. I’m five minutes out.”_

Peter talked to Alex as he waited, swallowing down the feelings that came with a missing child. There were no men in black this time. No guns. No home invasion. No cell, training, experiments. Just Peter; a guy in a mask who asked him who his favourite character from _Moana_ was, because that was the kid’s favourite movie.

Alex was talking excitedly about the chicken, Hei Hei, and the demigod, Maui, when a flustered woman ran over, her face tinged with red, like she was out of breath and had recently been crying.

“Alex! Baby! Sweetie, oh my God, Mommy’s so sorry.” She lifted Alex from Peter’s hands, pressing kisses against the toddler’s face. “I’m so sorry, baby. So sorry.” She looked to Peter then, stepped back at how he was dressed and then shook her head. “Thank you. Thank you, uh-”

“Spiderman,” Peter supplied.

She nodded. “Thank you so much.”

“It’s no problem. I’m glad you found each other again.”

The woman held her son close, before abruptly moving towards Peter and enveloping him in a quick hug.

“You’re a new one,” she said when she pulled away. “One of those vigilantes, right?” Peter nodded. “Well, keep up the good work, Spiderman. You’ve got me on your side.”

She thanked him twice more before he took his exit, shooting a web up the side of the building and swinging away as Alex waved from his mother’s arms. _One good thing. He wanted to do one good thing._

“Holy smokes, Spiderman,” Ned said in his ear. “Your first official act as a vigilante went perfectly. How does it feel?”

Peter landed on a rooftop and looked out across Queens. “It feels good,” he said. “Really good.”

“Well, we’ve got two hours before you get picked up,” Ned said. “I managed to get a police scanner app – want to try something a little harder?”

“Hell yeah,” Peter said, before leaping from the building. He could get used to this.

**Author's Note:**

> pls talk to me in the comments! i thrive off of them  
> (i'm not saying i write faster if u leave comments, but i absolutely write faster if u leave comments. i'll also update more if i have more fics ready and waiting)
> 
> THANK U SO MUCH FOR READING  
> i'm really surprised u guys are still sticking around for this universe, and i've received so many incredible comments and asks and messages recently i'm actually dying with happiness. y'all don't have to do that but u do and i appreciate it so much (especially the ones of u that have told me u enjoy my fics on my comments on yOUR FICS??????????????? IM SUPPOSED TO BE COMPLIMENTING U GUYS)  
> legit though my ego doesn't need to get any bigger, you're creating a monster
> 
> i'm officially posting [teasers](http://tempestaurora.tumblr.com/post/178178268567/heres-a-teaser-for-tomorrows-fic-the-seventh) on my [tumblr](http://tempestaurora.tumblr.com/) for future fics. the next fic will be out on the 20th, and the teaser some time on the 19th. ily you guys


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